Hi Kathrine,
Apparently there are some drive training books out there in the world. But like most things I do, I don't follow books much. I do a lot of trial and error, and usually then discover later on that there is a named method to what I have been doing for ages!
For instance, with the drive training, I have been training Gio that way basically since I got him 6 years ago, but it wasn't until recently that I was chatting with another dog trainer and discovered that she trains using the "drive training" methods and they are essentially what I have been doing with Gio. I do what makes sense naturally for each individual dog in each situation, and have just found through trial and error that working with the dog's natural instincts and drives is going to get you much farther than trying to work against them or to change them.
The basics of drive training the way that I use it is to, on a daily basis, work with the dog so that they begin to associate that their naturally high energy is released through activities with you. That really means getting down and dirty with your dog, encouraging a lot of physical contact, and allowing them to express the natural instincts that they have. Now, to understand what natural instincts dogs will have, you have to look at where dogs started, with wild canids. So the natural instinct in wild canids is to track, pursue, chase, grab, kill and devour, in that order. As a human race, we have taken those natural instincts and honed them in certain directions to fit our needs. So for the case of hounds, centuries of breeding has honed in on their instinct to track and pursue, while dulling their instinct to chase, grab, and kill. The track and pursuit instincts are sharpended, while the chase, grab, kill instincts are dulled. And we wind up with hound-type dogs that naturally excel at scent work and following tracks. When you look at herding breeds, the natural areas that have been honed over the centuries are the pursue, and chase instincts, while the grab and kill instincts are dulled. We've then taken the pursue and chase instincts and coupled that with strong pack bonds (ie. they want to work for us), so that we can have dogs that will chase animals either towards us or away from us as so instructed without being a threat to those animals.
Knowing that, and recognizing that we have Shelties, the natural instinct to focus on will be the chase instinct. So whether that be chasing you across the yard, or chasing a toy that you throw, etc. Couple that with physical contact with you and you are both allowing the dog to release their natural drive and forming a relationship between you as the handler and the satisfying release that the dog gets when they express the drive. So if chase is a big drive for your dog, encourage them to chase you for a couple of steps and then when they catch up to you, invite them to jump up on you with their feet or engage them in a wrestling game.
Another way to really engage your dog on a natural level is to observe their play style with other dogs and mimic that back to them. For instance, Romeo does this thing where he will look at another dog out of the corner of his eye, make a low whiny growl noise, then snap at the air in front of their face and dart away. That is essentially how he gets other dogs to play chase with him. So if I want to get Romeo riled up, I get down on his level, crouch over, look at him out the corner of my eye, low growl, then quickly yip in his direction and run away. Works every time! Then we do the wrestle games and we're set for business!
When you are actively in a training session, get the energy high and focused on you, either with tug games, wrestle cames, chase games, etc. Then in the middle of the energy peak, ask for a command of some sort, watch the dog snap to action, then reward with more high energy play. So it might look like a game of tug ... tug tug tug tug tug HEEL! Briskly heel for a couple of steps, then whip out the tug again tug tug tug tug. Of course, if you use a tug for energy building, you need a solid and instantaneous "out" command, or condition it so that the dog releases the tug when the next command is given.
There is a great YouTube video showing the drive building. The trainer in this case isn't demonstrating the use of drive for working, but the dog is showing the correct level of energy that if she wanted to, she could give a command to the dog and ask them to work and they would likely snap immediately into action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqs54qMgQA
Sorry, I've got to rambling again!
I'll just post one more YouTube video. This is one of Gio and I in an obedience fun match. I work to get his drive up in between each exercise by encouraging him to make physical contact with me, and I make contact with him with bum slaps and head grabs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI-U5brjbZk
